BIKES vs CARS, the Film

The bicycle, an amazing tool for change. Activists and cities all over the world are moving towards a new system. But will the economic powers allow it? Bikes vs Cars, a new film project from BANANAS!* and Big Boys Gone Bananas!* director Fredrik Gertten, looks into and investigates the daily global drama in traffic around the world.

“IT’S NOT A WAR, IT’S A CITY” – ALINE CAVALCANTE, SÃO PAULO

Climate change and never-ending gridlocks frustrate people more than ever. Instead of whining, people in cities around the world take on the bicycle as a Do It Yourself solution. Road rage and poor city planning creates daily death amongst the bicyclists. And now they demand safe lanes.

WE KNOW THAT THE WORLD NEEDS RADICAL CHANGES TO SAVE THE CLIMATE AND THE ENVIRONMENT,
BUT THE CAR INDUSTRY IS SELLING MORE CARS THAN EVER. 1 BILLION CARS TODAY, 2 BILLION CARS 2020.

It’s an uneven fight. Activists and politicians that work for change are facing a multi-billion dollar car, oil and construction industry that use all their means to keep society car dependent. We know that the world needs radical changes to save the climate and the environment, but the car industry is selling more cars than ever. Today there are one billion cars in the world. By 2020, that number will double.

“UNOBSTRUCTED RIDE, SHOT LIKE A ARROW, SPEEDING AROUND CURVES: THAT’S THE WAY YOU FEEL ON A BIKE THESE DAYS, NOT IN A CAR, AS THE CAR ADVERTISERS WANT TO MAKE YOU FEEL” – DAN KOEPPEL, LA

The film will follow the individuals around the world that are fighting to create change. We meet Aline at Sao Paulo’s Ciclofaxia, the weekly Sunday ride where one lane of Paulista Avenue is opened for bikes only. Aline is an inspirational person in the city’s bicycle movement, who tries to focus on the positive aspects of being a cyclist. But that can be difficult in a city where one bicyclist is killed every four days. And in Toronto, where mayor Rob Ford strips away the city’s bike lanes in his battle to win the “war on cars,” we watch as members of the Urban Repair Squad infiltrate the streets at night, using spray paint and stencils to replace them.

FROM THE ‘CHICAGO GHOST BIKES,’ THE CHICAGO RIDE OF SILENCE.

From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, fighting for safe bike lanes, to the City of Copenhagen, where forty percent commute by bike daily, Bikes vs Cars will look at both the struggle for bicyclists in a society dominated by cars, and the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities moved away from car-centric models.